Survisland

As someone who does most of my gaming primarily on a PC, I see lots of survival games come and go. They occasionally litter my friends’ list when a group of them all decide to give it another shot. However, I and others often grow tired of the poorly optimized mess that hinders almost all the games in this genre. The games are usually great on paper but don’t’ run well or lack something else that causes us to give it up. Only to have hope that updates improved the game and we give it another shot. It’s a cycle that’s bound to repeat itself. That is until this game was released in 2018.

Survisland is only in early access and for good reason, they needed the funds to continue working on it, and now the community is waiting for its most desired feature, multiplayer. That’s right the game doesn’t have multiplayer yet, but it’s coming. Another reason this game is something every survival fan would love is that it’s fairly well optimized. Unlike the mess of games like Ark Survival Evolved that runs like a crippled sloth. Survisland won’t have poor framerates for you to get tired of.

Setting

Survisland doesn’t have a story, its just a simple survival game where you play as a man or women who washes up on a randomly deserted island with nothing more than your undergarments. Your story will be your adventure as to how you survived.

Features

This game is armed to the teeth with hardcore survival mechanics and features. For starters, it has an endless open world that is procedurally generated, just like Minecraft. The game also includes a very in-depth crafting system that includes ‘nodes.’ This allows players to attach things how they want to, apposed to there only being one or two set ways for things to be crafted together. As you can imagine this opens the door for so many more creations if you’re creative enough. Players will start with nothing and slowly build their way up to building forts or even cities. Finally, the player’s character will evolve over time depending on their diet, exercise, and more. Your bones will get stronger, you can gain or lose fat, gain or lose muscle, and of course, all this affects your character’s performance. Typical survival mechanics are included as well, such as your need to eat, drink, sleep, and stay warm to survive.

Graphics & Gameplay

The graphics are on the better end for most typical survival games on PC, however, they’re nothing great. They’re your fairly standard looking foliage, water, ground textures, etc. This trend continues when it comes to gameplay.

Nothing too impressive going on, but since it runs smoother than most survival games, I suppose it’s technically better. Where this game shines is with it’s crafting, much like other survival games. As you can imagine this survival game has many different animals on land and in water for players to hunt and some animals pose a series threat.

Conclusion

My time with this game has been brief so it’s difficult to judge what the late game will be like, but I can imagine your limits are removed as you’re able to build so much more. However, this game without multiplayer is just a fraction of the fun that its final product can be capable of. With on par graphics, gameplay and it doesn’t chug along at an unstable 60 frames per second or less. Above and beyond character body simulation and survival features. A good game with little holding it back, just that one pesky flaw of no multiplayer.

Pros

• Good/decent graphics
• Amazing survival features
• Simulated character body growth
• Good variety of wildlife
• Endlessly generated world
• Great crafting system

Cons

• Minor optimization issues
• No multiplayer (yet)
• Mediocre gameplay and controls